The Four Speyside Distillery Whiskies Sampled!
Wednesday nights @TweetTastings, which was once again ably hosted by Steve from The Whisky Wire, gave us the opportunity to sample the wares of The Speyside Distillery; a mid-week savouring of four great drams!
The whiskies sampled were:-
- Spey Trutina
- Spey Chairman’s Choice
- Beinn Dubh
- Spey Fumare
Production at The Speyside Distillery started in 1990. The distillery took its name from the original distillery of the same name, located in Kingussie, which was operational from around 1895 – 1911.
The distillery is small in comparison with it’s closest neighbours (Dalwhinnie & Tomatin), with a 4.2 ton Semi-Lauter mash tun, 4 stainless steel washbacks and one pair of stills (11,000 wash & 8000 spirit).
Speyside Distillery uses a wide range of casks. The majority of these are American ex-bourbon barrels, but they also use casks sourced from Spain, Portugal and France.
If you want to catch up on what all the tweet tasters had to say you can view their comments by searching for the hash tag #SpeysideDistillery on Twitter.
So, what did I think?
Here are my tasting notes … and the one which was my favourite on the night!
Tasting Notes – Spey Trutina (46%)
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky
ABV: 46%
AGE: NAS
Casks: Bourbon
SPEY Trutina, which takes its name from the latin for ‘honest & pure’, is said to signify the natural, simple characteristics of the Speyside Distillery. This release is limited to 18,000 individually numbered bottles.
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Nose: Sherbet sweetness with green apples and some citrus. Some toffee notes and after a while the citrus increases with the addition of some herbs. In fact the nose started to remind me of a gin! Palate: Strong lemon citrus balanced by sugary sweetness and chocolate. Finish: Dry and powerful spicy pepper which is rather Yummy! The palate gets quite bitter at the end. |
Tasting Notes – Spey Chairman’s Choice (40%)
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky
ABV: 40%
AGE: NAS
Casks: Bourbon and Sherry
On Christmas Day in 1787, John Harvey (acting in his capacity as Chairman of the company) personally selected the whisky to be used only by family. John Harvey called this exclusive and secret family whisky, SPEY “Chairman’s Choice”.
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Nose: Creamy caramel with sherry – tremendous! I also picked up some wood with dark vanilla fruits. Palate: Thin mouthfeel with juicy sweet fruits and a little coffee and chocolate. Finish: There’s some nice spice to this one and the chocolate gets creamier and creamier but I’m wondering (with the light mouthfeel) what the cask strength would be like? I reckon gorgeous! |
Tasting Notes – Beinn Dubh (43%)
Beinn Dubh
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky
ABV: 43%
AGE: NAS
Casks: Bourbon barrels before being finished in heavily toasted Ruby Port casks
Beinn Dubh, which means Black Mountain, has been produced using water from the Cairngorm Black Mountain, and finished in heavily toasted Ruby Port casks from The Douro Valley.
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Nose: What an inviting looking dram this is! On the nose there’s rich dark fruits with red wine and vanilla. It gets more porty as time goes on with some added coffee. Palate: Port and dark chocolate in abundance! Dark fruits including prunes, wood, creamy vanilla and a little licorice. Finish: The spiciness grows but there’s sweet coffee and chocolate aplenty to keep it in check! |
Tasting Notes – Spey Fumare (46%)
SPEY Fumare
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky
ABV: 46%
AGE: NAS
Casks: Bourbon
SPEY Fumare, was the first ever peated distillery bottling and is produced using peated barley, which the distillery only uses for a small part of the year (December). A limited release of 18,000 individually numbered bottles.
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Nose: Ooh! smokehouse peat is back! Savoury liquid BBQ smoke with some sweet fruitiness and snack inducing peat aromas! Palate: Rich fruity smoke and peat with antiseptic overtones but a pleasant sweetness levels things up nicely. Finish: Punchy pepper at the end! Overall: This could easily be one of my ‘Desert Island Drams’ – staring into my homemade fire on the beach! |
My Favourite On The Night
1. Beinn Dubh
2. Fumare
I do love a peat dram but maybe it’s the time of year because the Christmas dram ‘Beinn Dubh’ really wins it for me! Christmas dram contender anyone?
Speyside Distillery Whiskies can be bought directly from thesnugspeysidedistillery
Speyside Distillery Whiskies are also available to buy from these Merchants:-
Many thanks to Steve at The Whisky Wire (@TheWhiskyWire / @TweetTastings) for a great evening and Speyside Distillery (@SpeySingleMalt) for sending the samples and without whom!
My fellow Tweet Tasters on the night were:-
@TheWhiskyWire @WhiskyWings @TallmanFM @whiskygraeme @RealDramRob @PadWhisky @sprungatom @PhilScott101 @whiskyodyssey @BillyCowan @FiShoop @StillSurreal @rodbodtoo @pswhisky @CEVokins @DramofWar @WhiskyWithMolly @jwbassman_ @KiltedDrammer @ExeterWhisky @WhiskyUnplugged @moonbites @TwoWhiskyBros @TheWhiskyphiles
